Fire and Ash
by LavenderLoveLife
Summary: PostOoT/PreMM: Link struggles with a reoccurring nightmare and what it represents for his future. A short oneshot in between Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.


**"As the servants of evil gain strength, a vile climate pervades the land and causes nightmares to those sensitive to it..."**

* * *

The air was thick and hard to breathe. It was nearing dawn, light could be seen slowly growing on the horizon, but the sky was still nearly pitch black. The stars seemed dull.

Link found himself breathing heavily. It felt as though his lungs were being crushed by the weight and the tension in the air. He was standing in a field. Trees and mountains were in the distance. He thought he saw a volcano, but nothing looked familiar.

Something changed. The ground began to violently shake and the sky began to light up in an eerie orange glow. Link turned to see an explosion and waves of heat and fire shooting toward him. He screamed and hopelessly covered his face with his hands.

Fearfully, he opened his eyes as the heat soared past him, to see a world of ash and fire.

The world was over.

* * *

Link sat up in bed with a gasp and held his head in his hands. He was sweating and shaking. He looked around at his room and felt oddly enclosed. He threw on his tunic and boots and quietly walked into a corridor of Hyrule Castle. He walked down the familiar halls, waved to the passing patrolling soldiers, and made his way to the castle's courtyard.

Here he felt as though he could relax, away from the cold stone walls of the castle. He found a soft spot of grass and laid down. Looking up at the moon and stars, he almost subconsciously confirmed that the sky was as bright as ever, unlike his nightmares. The childlike part of his mind found comfort in this.

It wasn't as though Link wasn't used to nightmares. His adventures from the future that no longer exists still visited him frequently to remind him that although he had changed history, those events had still happened and weren't going to be forgotten. He had come to terms with these nightmares and they seemed to have less and less of an impact on him each time they occurred.

It was his current reoccurring nightmare that was making him uneasy and restless.

This one seemed to have much more gravity. He couldn't understand or escape the feeling of dread that seemed to settle around him like a haze since he started having this dream days ago.

He had discussed it with Princess Zelda the previous day, since she also was another who frequently had prophetical dreams and visions. She explained the common symbolism that the events in his dream meant, but the downside to dreams like this were that you often didn't fully understand what they meant until you personally met the elements of your dream in real life.

Zelda was also the one who laughed at him for feeling claustrophobic in his room in the castle. He smiled at this thinking fondly of his old home in the forest. His room here was easily twice the size of his old house, not to mention the size of the rest of the castle that the King insisted he call his home.

Link sighed and put his arms behind his head and continued gazing at the sky. The restless feeling he had been experiencing kept tugging at him. He rolled over and tried to ignore it, but that made it seem stronger.

The gentle breeze around him seemed to be pushing him away. The sound of animals in the night seemed to be calling him away. He rolled back onto his back stressed. Something in the world was wrong. He could feel it in his heart the same way he could feel it back in the Kokiri Forest seven years... no several months before, just before his quest to save Hyrule.

Hyrule doesn't need saving, he told himself, especially not from a ten year old kid. He looked up into the sky, longing for an answer. He watched as a small cluster of fairies flew over the castle. Seeing fairies didn't make him feel much better. All they did was remind him of his companion during his journey. Link had no idea where she had gone, and she hadn't even said goodbye. He usually tried to avoid thinking about her, as she made him nostalgic and sad but tonight he felt like moping. While he was moping however, is when he had an idea. He leapt back to his feet and all but ran back to his room, a plan forming in his head.

He could travel to the Lost Woods, he thought as he entered his room. He quickly took inventory of the things he would need and began to pack his bags. Fairies lived in the forest. If he could find his old friend, she could explain to him his dream and why he was so restless. No one understood him the way she did.

He put his sword and shield on his back, filled his knapsack with some spare food and clothes, and looked around the rest of his room. That was really all he needed he realized. He was never one to have too many belongings.

He left for the stables where his horse Epona stayed. He received some odd looks from the soldiers due to the late hour, but Link couldn't wait a second longer to be on the move. Now that he had acknowledged and accepted the feeling that was pulling him away, it took all of his willpower not to run to the stables.

Epona seemed to also be aware that it was time to move on, for she was the only horse awake. Link hummed her song quietly as he prepared her to leave. He was leading her out toward the field when he felt a strange, warm feeling in his left hand.

"You are already leaving this land of Hyrule, aren't you?"

**A/N: **Here's just a little oneshot that was dancing around in my head. I think this was a result of seeing the Zelda Orchestra this weekend, which was glorious. My sister and I were dancing in our seats the whole time we were so excited. But back to the story, I wrote this in about a day, so there's bound to be a thousand mistakes, which I apologize for. Majora's Mask was always my favorite Zelda game, although now that I'm replaying Skyward Sword on hero mode I'm having difficultly figuring out if which one is my favorite. But now I'm just rambling again. I hope you enjoyed this little oneshot and I'd love some feedback from the crowd.


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